¹ See the “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section of this release.

² Earnings per share have been calculated based on the diluted shares outstanding of Microchip on a consolidated basis.

³ See Footnote 2 under the “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section of this release.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures: Our Non-GAAP adjustments, where applicable, include the effect of share-based compensation, expenses related to our acquisition activities (including intangible asset amortization, inventory valuation costs, restructuring costs, severance costs, earn-out adjustments and legal and other general and administrative expenses associated with acquisitions), and non-cash interest expense on our convertible debentures, gains on strategic investments, the related income tax implications of these items and nonrecurring tax events.

Management believes these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors because they enhance the understanding of our historical financial performance and comparability between periods. Many of our investors have requested that we disclose this non-GAAP information because they believe it is useful in understanding our performance as it excludes non-cash and other charges that many investors feel may obscure our underlying operating results. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to manage and assess the profitability of our business. Specifically, we do not consider such items when developing and monitoring our budgets and spending. As described above, the economic substance behind our decision to exclude such items relates either to these charges being non-cash in nature, or to the one-time nature of the events. Our determination of the above non-GAAP measures might not be the same as similarly titled measures used by other companies, and it should not be construed as a substitute for amounts determined in accordance with GAAP. There are limitations associated with using non-GAAP measures, including that they exclude financial information that some may consider important in evaluating our performance. Management compensates for this by presenting information on both a GAAP and non-GAAP basis for investors and providing reconciliations of the GAAP and non-GAAP results.

Diluted Common Shares Outstanding can vary for, among other things, the trading price of our common stock, the actual exercise of options or vesting of restricted stock units, the potential for incremental dilutive shares from our convertible debentures (additional information regarding our share count is available in the investor relations section of our website under the heading “Supplemental Financial Information”), and the repurchase or the issuance of stock. The diluted common shares outstanding presented in the guidance table above assumes an average Microchip stock price in the March 2014 quarter of $45 per share (however, we make no prediction as to what our actual share price will be for such period or any other period and we cannot estimate what our stock option exercise activity will be during the quarter).

Generally, gross margin fluctuates over time, driven primarily by the mix of microcontrollers, analog products and memory products sold and licensing revenue; variances in manufacturing yields; fixed cost absorption; wafer fab loading levels; inventory reserves; pricing pressures in our non-proprietary product lines; and competitive and economic conditions. Operating expenses fluctuate over time, primarily due to net sales and profit levels.